Gold Plated Sunshine
by The Seasons
Summary: PG for language. Mary Sue about how three friends find a group of people stranded in King's Cross Station and decide to help them out...
1. The Onset of Winter

An icy wind blew across the busy streets of London, whistling through cracks and around parked taxis. The first few drops of icy rain started to fall, creating patterns in the dust.  
  
"Come on, we might aswell go inside." A girl with just-above-shoulder- length, dark blonde hair sighed and shrugged herself inside her jacket. She was thirteen years old, and prone to getting lost. Her companions; a girl of perhaps the same age, with long, dark brown hair followed suit, sighing and nodding in agreement. She wrapped her coat closer around herself and muttered something derogative about the English weather. The last girl was obviously the eldest, if only because of the way she conducted herself. She looked at the other two girls and smiled at them.  
  
"We'll get back fine." She said reassuringly, seeing the slightly nervous look in the brown eyes of her friend.  
  
"Of course we will." The blonde girl smiled.  
  
"Not if we let you navigate again Heather!" the tallest girl chuckled. Heather pouted. In the wretched winter sunlight her hair was darker than it usually was, honey blonde rather than any other blonde. She brushed her fingers through her hair, not noticing the way the sun's weak rays caught her natural highlights and made them shine.  
  
Heather Lloyd-Gale and her friends Anna Francombe and Gemma Bridges had been in London for the day. It was the last day of holidays before the Christmas term was due to begin. It had been a great day, but they had managed to get themselves lost. Well, Heather had managed to get them lost anyway! She looked guiltily at her friends as the three of them made their way inside into the relative warmth of Kings Cross Station.  
  
"Sorry guys." she sighed, brushing her fingers through her hair again. She knew they shouldn't be there; her mother would kill her if she knew she was there in London without an adult! In fact, Heather's mother would kill her if she knew she was in London full stop!  
  
"It's okay." Anna smiled and hugged her friend.  
  
They were in the same year at King's School Senior, and had been friends since they first met, when Heather had walked into the classroom clutching a folder with a "Starlight Express" sticker on it. Anna had looked at it and said with a small laugh: "Squee!" and the two girls had become friends almost instantly.  
  
Gemma was in the year above, but she had stopped a group of boys picking on the two girls at a break time once, and had found she had a lot in common with them. All three girls enjoyed writing stories, and consequently they would be found in a huddle during break times, writing various things in one of many (in Heather's case - tatty) notepads.  
  
"Platform three, for the -pause- South Central service to East Croydon." the computerised voice was blasting over the tannoy system as the three walked in. Heather looked at her watch, then up at the departures board.  
  
"Okay." She said, assuming a slight air of control. "We need to be on platform ten in-" she consulted her watch again. "Two minutes. Ack!" she looked to her friends in a slight panic, then all three took to their heels and ran wildly for the platform. Heather, being the smallest of the three, shot slightly ahead, but she didn't get to the platform before her friends. After she managed to negotiate a particularly large crowd of loud tourists she thought she was home free and put on an extra burst of speed.  
  
Unfortunately what she hadn't envisioned was another group of people appearing from literally nowhere, directly into her path. She was going too fast to stop and collided with them, knocking three of the people down.  
  
Anna and Gemma skidded to a halt before they also collided with the group, and Anna leaned down to help Heather up. The blonde teen was entangled with a red-haired youth with freckles, a black-haired youth with glasses and a blonde-haired youth with a disgusted expression on his face.  
  
"I'm - sorry!" she panted. "Thanks Anna." She held out her hand to help the boys up. The redhead accepted her help as the dark-haired boy accepted Anna's hand. The blonde boy however, refused any help and got up by himself.  
  
Gemma was stood at a distance, watching the group with a curious expression in her eyes. She too had noted that they had 'appeared' from nowhere, which she had always thought was impossible. She frowned in thought; suddenly the group seemed very familiar. She walked forward and gave the group another look, then noticed something very strange, and very familiar about the dark-haired boy. He was wearing round glasses, and Gemma swore that behind his untidy fringe she could see a lightening-shaped scar. She caught her friends' eyes and looked to the boy again.  
  
Heather and Anna caught on quickly, and looked in amazement at the boy, then at their friend.  
  
"Are you Harry Potter?" Anna blurted out, then blushed hotly. The boy looked at her in surprise, then nodded slowly.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Heather, Anna and Gemma looked at each other in amazement; Harry Potter?! The same Harry Potter whose exploits they had read about time and time again? It didn't seem possible, yet it was too much of a coincidence to be taken lightly. The hair. The glasses. His eyes. His scar. All matched with the description of the boy wizard given in the books. 


	2. Decisions, Decisions

Gemma grabbed her friends' arms and pulled them away from the group. They huddled together, speaking in low voices.  
  
'Do you think it's really him?' Anna asked, periodically glancing over at the black haired boy who was staring at them with an expression of confusion on his face.  
  
'Well...' said Heather, a small grin appearing on her face, 'If he is Harry, then the others must be Ron Weasley and,' she paused, 'Draco Malfoy.' She said the last two words in a dreamy voice, her eyes glazing over.  
  
Gemma rolled her eyes. 'Heather, this is not the time,' she said.  
  
'So what are we going to do,' asked Anna, sounding slightly concerned and continuing to glance over at the confused group of young wizards.  
  
'I don't know!' Gemma exclaimed, slightly louder than she'd meant to. 'It's not every day that I meet someone I thought only existed inside my head!'  
  
'Looks pretty 3D for someone who lives between the pages of a book,' agreed Heather, still gazing at the blonde boy. Anna kicked her.  
  
This seemed to bring Heather back down to earth. 'Well, we have to do something,' she said defiantly.  
  
'Why us?' asked Anna.  
  
'Because we're probably the biggest Harry Potter fans for miles. We know everything about them and we might be able to help!' exclaimed Heather, getting quite excited. 'Let's go and talk to them!'  
  
They began to run over to the boys, who had now been joined by another, slightly older boy in bright red robes, and a tall man with greasy black hair wearing robes the color of charcoal.  
  
'It's Snape!' hissed Gemma. 'This could make things difficult.'  
  
The others looked at her in confusion. 'He doesn't exactly think much of muggles, does he?' she explained. 'You saw how Draco was when we tried to help him up.'  
  
'Let me deal with this,' said Heather, marching forward before anyone could stop her. The others scurried after her, looking apprehensive.  
  
'Excuse me,' Heather said to the man in the black robes, 'but are you Professor Severus Snape?'  
  
'Yes, what concern of yours is that, muggle?' he snapped at her. He was about to turn away when he stopped and stared at her.  
  
'How do you know...' he began, then tailed off and walked away across the platform towards Draco.  
  
'Rude,' muttered Gemma, but Anna had started giggling.  
  
'Look at Ron,' she whispered, pointing towards the red haired boy. He had been standing in front of a nearby ticket machine pushing buttons and trying to understand what it was for, when a stream of blank tickets had shot out of the machine and were now littering the platform. He had gone one shade of red darker than his hair.  
  
The girls walked towards him. Harry had joined him now, and was trying to stop the loud beeping noise coming from the machine.  
  
'Excuse me,' said Anna. The boys looked up. 'How... how did you get here?'  
  
'Ask that git,' said Ron, pointing at Malfoy. 'We were at a dueling club at school, and he was dueling with me. He tried to shoot a spell at me but something went wrong and it hit loads of us.'  
  
'He stressed the wrong part of the spell,' came a female voice from behind a nearby pillar. A girl with bushy brown hair walked around it and stared at them.  
  
'That can only be Hermione,' whispered Gemma to the others. Hermione clearly heard this, as she looked at Gemma and smiled. She went on with her explanation.  
  
'He should have said RictuSEMpra, but instead he said RicTUsemPRA. The spell bounced off Ron and hit me and Harry, and Snape, and must have rebounded back onto him. Professor Flitwick warned us about this sort of thing.'  
  
'Oliver Wood's here too,' said Harry, pointed at the boy in scarlet robes.  
  
It was Gemma's turn to take on a dreamy expression. She stared over at Oliver Wood, a grin spreading across her face. Anna shook her head in despair of her friends.  
  
Hermione, it seemed, had had enough of the ticket machine, which was now flashing lights and still beeping loudly. She pulled her wand out of her robes and muttered, 'Reparo.' Nothing happened. Harry and Ron tried as well, but no avail.  
  
Hermione looked nervous. 'I don't think our magic's working...' she said, her expression becoming increasingly worried.  
  
Professor Snape walked over. 'What's going on?' he asked, staring at the offending machine. 'And why are you doing magic in front of muggles? Do you have no respect for magical secrecy? All the muggles will know about the wizarding world if you carry on like this Miss Granger. 10 points from Gry...'  
  
'Please sir,' said Hermione quickly, 'Our magic's not working - I think something went wrong with it when we were hit by the spell...'  
  
The three girls turned away. 'Well, there's only one thing we can do,' said Heather, looking at the group where, it seemed, Hermione and Snape were about to come to blows. 'They can't get back, and we can't leave them stranded in the muggle world. They'll never survive! They've got no money, no magic and no way of getting back.'  
  
'Are you saying...' began Anna, a glint in her eye.'  
  
'We're going to have to take them home with us!' said Heather excitedly. We can look after them and hide them somewhere safe until Dumbledore or someone comes to rescue them.'  
  
'But how can we hide them?' asked Gemma. 'There's loads of them!'  
  
'We'll have to split them up, two each. I'll take Draco and Snape - we can't really have them staying with any of the others or there'll be chaos. Anna, you take Harry and Ron and Gemma gets Hermione and Wood.'  
  
They agreed on this plan and walked over to tell the group what was happening. Heather called everyone over and they stood in a small huddle, Draco and Snape slightly further away from the rest.  
  
'Right, what's going to happen is...' began Heather, but she didn't get any further. A station official, no doubt attracted by the ticket machine which appeared to have run out of blank tickets to throw everywhere, was running alone the platform towards them.  
  
'No time to explain!' shouted Heather as she spotted their train and began running towards it. 'Follow me quickly!' The group began to run towards the train. Draco and Snape seemed reluctant, but followed when they spotted the angry official just a few feet away.  
  
Once they were safely on the train, the girls sat down, catching their breath. They stared over at the odd-looking group on the other side of the aisle. In one row of seats sat Draco and Snape, faces low, looking as if they were plotting murder. Clustered around a table behind them were Harry, Ron, Hermione and Wood. Harry and Wood were involved in a heated conversation about Quidditch. Hermione was staring into space (no doubt trying to remember some complicated spell), and Ron had caught his robe sleeve in the window.  
  
Anna turned back to Heather and Gemma. 'I really hope this plan works Heather,' she said skeptically. 


	3. A Journey, And Amusement

Heather sighed slightly, blowing her hair out of her eyes.  
  
"I hope so,"  
  
Anna looked back at Snape and Draco, she gazed silently. Gemma rolled her eyes then spotted Oliver Wood, she then gazed silently. The two gazing girls were in a world of their own, oblivious to anything else happening, not even an explosion could knock their gaze.  
  
"It could be worse." Heather said, cracking her knuckles.  
  
"Couldn't get any better." Replied Anna, sounding rather like she was sleep talking.  
  
"You got that right!" Said Gemma, she propped her chin onto her fist and sighed happily at Wood.  
  
Oliver then noticed Gemma staring at him, he gave her a slight smile and raised his head slightly in acknowledgement before turning back to Harry and carrying on the Quiddich conversation on how forceful Bludgers can get.  
  
Gemma widened her eyes as if she was a child getting a puppy for Christmas. Heather shook her head and smiled.  
  
"Children," She said in a slight warning tone. Anna's eyes flickered, she batted her eyelids and turned back to Heather.  
  
"Indeed," She said in a low tone, expecting a laugh from both Heather and Gemma. Heather chuckled and giggled, Gemma still remained oblivious to all that was happening, there was a gormless expression on her face as she stared at Wood. She just stared, and stared, and stared, and stared, etc.  
  
Anna looked at Gemma, then at Heather with a worried expression. Heather looked at Gemma and shrugged,  
  
"Strange child"  
  
Ron was still wrestling with his robes and the window, and he was losing. Soon enough Ron released his robes from the wrath of the window; yet fell off of his seat in the progress. Hermione shot her head round, then rolled her eyes and sighed. Harry looked at Ron and chuckled, Wood smiled. Anna looked over. She stifled a laugh. Heather raised an eyebrow and turned her head to see Ron on the floor, looking rather annoyed, she stifled an 'Awww!' Gemma shook her head out of her gaze as she saw Ron fall, she giggled.  
  
Ron looked up and sighed angrily, then stood. He dusted himself off, then walked over to the group of Muggles. He smiled in his trademark smile and raised his eyebrows.  
  
"Hi"  
  
Heather gawped and stared; it was her turn to gaze now. Anna smiled sweetly, wanting to make a good impression. Gemma grinned.  
  
"Hi...." Replied Anna and Gemma in synchronisation. 


	4. Performance

Meanwhile over the other part of the train Draco and Snape were sitting in silence, although the look in their eyes spoke volumes.  
  
"I can't believe we're on this - this - Mudblood train." Draco's voice was seething with anger and contempt. Snape made no comment, although his eyes showed that he agreed with the teenager. Draco looked around, deciding that he might aswell work out what was going on, so he had some kind of ammunition for later when he spoke to his father.  
  
"Would you be so kind," Snape said, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he looked at Heather nastily. "To explain what on earth you think you are doing? Let me assure you, that were you at Hogwarts and in my house, you would be expelled straight away!"  
  
"Well, we're not." Heather said, reasonably calm, although Anna could see that she was shaking. Gemma was still staring at Wood, so she couldn't notice much.  
  
"Yes. Well. Will you explain?" Snape snapped, after a moment or two's worth of mental deliberation. Heather nodded.  
  
"You have no magic, and no Muggle money, it wouldn't be fair just to leave you all stranded at the station alone, so we're goin' to look after you until Dumbledore or someone finds you." She explained. Snape pulled an elaborate expression of disgust.  
  
"You mean to say that we have to reside with you Muggles?" he questioned, sounding like someone had told him he was to run around the Whomping Willow wearing nothing but lurid pink bloomers, singing the Harry Potter National Anthem. Heather sighed.  
  
"Yes." She said coldly. She was already sick and tired of him - why on earth had she offered to take Snape and Malfoy?! "You and Malfoy are to live with me, Wood and Hermione, you're living with Gemma, Ron and Harry are living with Anna. We all live reasonably close together, so we'll be able to see each other and stuff." She said, seeing the worried look on Ron's face. He grinned, and Heather nodded at Harry, Wood and Hermione.  
  
"So it is all settled?" Snape's voice was again sarcastic. "I suppose we have no say in this matter at all?"  
  
"No." Heather said shortly, turning her back on him and Malfoy to face Anna and Gemma again.  
  
"Heather!" Anna whispered. "I can't believe you just cheeked Snape!"  
  
"Yeah I know." Heather said glumly. "And I have to live with him!" she grinned ruefully, then smiled happily as Ron grinned at her.  
  
"Nice one with Snape!" he said. "He's just a git, and he can't turn you into anything coz he doesn't have his magic!"  
  
"Yeah, but I'm sure he can still poison me, given the right materials." Heather grinned. Ron shook his head, though he looked a little doubtful. "Okay." Heather said, looking at Gemma and waving her hand in front of her face.  
  
"Huh?" Gemma grinned. "Hi."  
  
"Yeah, hi." Heather chuckled. "Right, we have to work out what the story is. I'm gonna have to explain to my mother why I've got a full grown man and a fourteen year-old boy in my room!"  
  
"Your room?!" Draco practically screeched, getting a few funny looks from the other occupants of the carriage. They had already been stared at almost constantly by one man, who seemed to find it amazing that they were all wearing robes, save the three Muggle girls.  
  
"Yes Malfoy, my room." Heather said, managing to keep herself calm again, even though her heart was playing the eighteen twelve overture. "Unless you plan to sleep out in the shed?" she added sweetly. Malfoy gave her a filthy look and sat back in his seat, regaining his homicidal air. Heather sighed. "This ain't gonna be easy." She commented to Gemma, who nodded.  
  
"I know." She sighed. "What're you gonna say to your mum?"  
  
"Well." Heather sighed aswell. "She was looking for a lodger, for upstairs, y'know? But if Snape stays as Muggle-hating as he is now, I've got no chance! And she won't let two people live up there. Maybe I should try being really polite to Snape, and see what happens.?" she laughed slightly and sat back in her seat, pulling out some ancient-looking headphones and putting them on. Soon the strains of Queen rang from her ears where the volume was so loud. She smiled and shut her eyes.  
  
"Wow. What's that?" Ron asked Anna, staring in amazement at the headphones as Bohemian Rhapsody blasted out. Anna smiled.  
  
"They're headphones, you listen to music with them." she explained. Ron's eyes went wide.  
  
"Wow." he repeated. Anna shook her head with a grin. Hermione looked up at the noise.  
  
"Need she have them so loud?"  
  
"She's deaf in one ear."  
  
"Yes, I can hear that."  
  
"No, I mean literally."  
  
"Oh!" Hermione looked interested. Gemma smiled at her, and she smiled back.  
  
"So you go to a Muggle school?" Hermione questioned, wriggling around the table so she could sit nearer to Gemma. The teenager nodded.  
  
"I'm in year nine." She said. Hermione looked interested again.  
  
"So, how old would that make you?"  
  
"Fourteen." Gemma said. Hermione nodded.  
  
"The same year as me." She smiled. Gemma nodded back.  
  
"Yeah, but our years are so much more dull than yours." She said without thinking. "We don't do Astrology or anything interesting, we do maths, and science, and things like that. Really boring."  
  
"Well, not really." Hermione got a look in her eyes. "Maths can be really interesting! I learned about it in Muggle Studies.!"  
  
Anna looked between Gemma and Hermione as they started a long conversation about the differences between Arithmancy and mathematics, and which is better. She shivered slightly as a cold draft shot past her.  
  
"Tickets please." A cheerful looking man had opened the compartment door and was smiling around at the odd group. Heather swallowed; they had no tickets for the wizards. She suddenly had a brainwave; she had idly picked up a few of the blank tickets from the station floor as the others were talking.  
  
"I'm afraid there was a bit of a mix-up at King's Cross." She said politely, taking out the blank tickets. "We had to catch our train, and the ticket machine didn't print our tickets properly." She held out the tickets she had picked up. The man looked at her carefully, but Heather was an actress, and she held her perfectly innocent gaze, backed up by innocent looks from Anna and Gemma either side of her, and he nodded.  
  
"Right. I'll have to get that sorted." He said slowly. "So you did pay?"  
  
"Of course!" Heather's eyes went wide. "It's a day out for us all! It cost us an awful lot."  
  
"Alright Heather, don't overdo it." Gemma muttered, but the aging ticket collector seemed to think Heather was a cute kid.  
  
"Well, if you paid." he printed out some more tickets for them. "Here you are love. Be more careful next time, and speak to an official at the station if it happens again."  
  
"I will." Heather nodded, her eyes still wide and innocent. The man smiled at her and moved down the carriage.  
  
"Tickets please."  
  
"Heather you're a genius!" Anna hugged her friend, starting to laugh.  
  
"I can't believe you!" Gemma shook her head. "You're so- so-!"  
  
"Sickly sweet." Harry pulled a face. "I haven't seen acting that good since Mrs Figg couldn't look after me and I had to go to Dudley's birthday outing." he shook his head like Gemma. Heather went red.  
  
"Yeah, well." She dropped the 'cute kid' act and grinned. "All over." 


End file.
